September 7, 2018

on: September 07, 2018

Gospel: Lk 5:33-39
Some people asked him, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it, that your disciples eat and drink?” Then Jesus said to them “You can’t make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them. But later, the bridegroom will be taken from them; and they will fast in those days.” Jesus also told them this parable: “No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new coat will be torn, and the piece taken from the new coat will not match the old coat. No one puts new wine into old wine skins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well. But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet, no one who has tasted old wine is eager to drink new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”

Reflections
Pope Francis, in one of his Masses in Rome, said: “Being Christian means allowing oneself to be renewed by Jesus in this new life. ‘I am a good Christian, I go to Mass every Sunday from 11 till noon, I do this, I do that’… as if it were a collection. But the Christian life is not a collage of things. It is a harmonious whole, harmonious, and the Holy Spirit does it! He renews all things: He renews our heart, our life, and makes us live differently, but in a way that takes up the whole of our life. You cannot be a Christian of pieces, a part-time Christian. Being a part-time Christian simply doesn’t work! The whole, everything, full-time. The Spirit accomplishes this renewal. Being Christian ultimately means not doing things, but allowing oneself to be renewed by the Holy Spirit – or, to use the words of Jesus, becoming new wine.” Being a part-time Christian is an old wineskin. Being a Christian of pieces means seeking my comfort zones and compromising my values. I take what is cool and I leave what is challenging in my life. The arrangement that I keep does not propel me to grow as a person but simply allows me to keep things as they are. Everything that matters has remained too private and has not impacted on my relationships with others and the world. True renewal is not measured by my personal view on wellness. It requires the difficult work of inner conversion, a deep change of mind and heart. It demands the courage to face the true self and put on a new wineskin. True renewal is new wine in fresh skins. The search for new wineskins is to find Jesus that opens the door to our deepest center.